4 - Fics I Read 2.0

FanFiction.Net

Just In

Community

Forum

Stranger Than Fiction (Worm Tinker of Fiction SI) by Throwaway1971

Books » Private Rated: M, English, Romance, Words: 110k+, Favs: 105, Follows: 131, Published: Dec 24, 2023

5Chapter 4: Fourth Page

Alright, firstly, yes, I am indeed still alive, and this is an update. Sorry about the long wait, but, as I said above in reply to a comment, things have been hectic and I really haven't had much in the way of time, since it's been very much 'all hands on deck,' and so forth. Not fun, not in the least. Still, hope you all enjoy what's coming, and give a big thanks to Sleeping Moon for giving this a once to make sure it actually makes sense. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own jackshit!

XXX

"Thank you, please come again!"

The words were semi-automatic by this point, my voice raised slightly to be heard over the gaggle of giggling, bouncing children as they ran out the door being held open by their parents. In the hands of each of the three children was one of the spring-loaded toys I'd made, each shaped as a parody of one dinosaur or another. A 'Have'a good day!' was shouted back as the door to my small shop slipped closed behind them, the bell I'd mounted on it ringing once more before falling silent. Through the window, I could see the family gathering outside my shop, the children just barely in view as they skittered around their parents, who watched on with seemingly infinite patience as they slowly, gently started to move out of view of the window. Even then, I was still fully aware of them, fully aware of the family crossing the road and heading for a bus station further down the street, my eyes absently tracking them, even through the brick and concrete walls.

Sitting down behind the small counter, air flowed in and out of my lips in a slow inhale and exhale, the action doing little beyond being an ingrained habit as I idly marveled at how much I'd changed in so short a time. Distance gave things a different perspective, and even if I had known what I would become, in theory, but actually experiencing how those changes effected me was something else entirely. For instance, I'd known that I'd get some measure of enhanced sensory perception after the merge was complete, but even after using it to hunt for useful materials, it hadn't fully registered what that truly meant. Now, no longer focusing on gathering materials or working on a project, I couldn't help but marvel at the changes in my own awareness of my surroundings.

I didn't even need to focus on something to know where it was or what it was. Even with closed eyes, I could see the cars passing in the street beyond my shop front; I could read the registration plates on each car; I could count the freckles on the face of each car driver; I could count the number of cockroaches that were currently hiding in every dumpster in my range. I simply knew, and could call upon further information as was required, with SECOND hovering in the background of my own thoughts. And, more than that, I could feel my awareness slowly increasing in range and potency as the seconds ticked by, nanometre by nanometre as energy pulsed through me from the ever-strengthening connection I shared with my Ceph Hive as they continued to work.

Even from the other side of the city, I could feel them at work, growing and adapting as new Minds grew out of the Mind-Architecture of the Hivemind, both growing in complexity as materials were gathered and Worker-Drones were produced at a steady rate. Thought-messages travelled through the connection with each pulse of energy, carrying status reports, updates, general messages and even suggestions for future projects. A surprise, to be sure, but not an unpleasant one, I'd found, as my Posthuman nature let me effortlessly keep serving customers as I read through each thought-message in turn, all the while, contemplating how things had changed.

In retrospect, It had probably been a good idea to distance myself from the Hivemind Relay, even if had initially been as a means of escaping the workshop I'd secluded myself in for most of the week, since that added distance brought some things into perspective. At the very least, after a bit of observation, I could now identify my own thoughts from those of the Hivemind as each thought-message appeared from a specific 'direction' that formed the connection between me and it. When I'd been standing right next to it, watching as it took its first steps and sitting in the proverbial eye of the storm, I hadn't even noticed the overlap of thoughts, but hindsight made it more obvious.

As for the project proposals themselves, more than a few had caught my interest, for various reasons. The Anti-Parahuman and Anti-Endbringer warrior strains being the most obvious examples, but the fact that the Ceph Minds had immediately suggested acquiring Parahumans, either as more 'muscle,' or as test subjects, was a bit of a surprise. Admittedly, it had more to do with the Ceph wanting to examine the various expressions of Parahuman powers, and methods of replicating, and countering, them, but it was a surprise all the same.

Still, given the stage of development that I was sitting at, I'd sent back a 'maybe' in answer to that particular idea, along with all the information I could scrap together from memory about the true nature of Parahuman powers, Shards and Entities, in order to clear up the assumptions that the Ceph Minds had made. Something I probably should have done from the beginning, and included in a file to go along with all the tech designs and blueprints I'd given the newly birthed Hivemind, but I just hadn't thought it to be necessary at the time. A stupid mistake, but one that didn't seem to have any true consequences, aside from requiring a bit of clarification to resolve. Better that way, I mused, since it meant that I avoided more long term problems that could come up from assumptions and wrong information.

However, before I could get too far into my musings, an alert sounded in the back of my mind, sensors both internal, external and metaphysical all screaming at me as they picked up an objected flying through the air. Immediately, SECOND sprang to life from its seeming idleness and brought a snap-shot of the object into focus as I watched, descending from the sky. When the model came into focus a moment later, I couldn't help it when my eyebrow twitched up, pulled up by nano-weave muscles and synth-skin dermal layers as I saw what, or, rather, who, it was as something floated down outside the shop window.

Tall, platinum blonde hair, and with the figure of a supermodel, it didn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots, even with her wearing a loose hoodie, a tight top and skin tight jeans and not in her 'cape' costume. Likewise, it made identifying the blonde's brown-haired limpet even easier, as SECOND wasted no time in pulling up as much information as it could gather as quickly as possible, digging deep into both publicly available information, and my private files. As a result, within a few seconds, I had the entire life story of both Victoria and Amy Dallon unraveled within my brain as SECOND picked through it, going over it with a fine-toothed comb to find as many tactical options and weak points as possible. It didn't take long for the list to suddenly contain at least a hundred possible options, each, when the door opened and the bell rang.

"Welcome to the Clockwork Parlor, can I help you with anything?" I asked as the door opened, letting the two in with a calm, friendly smile plastered across my face, my body language equally welcoming. An advantage of having a heavily augmented body, making it very easy to control my micro-expressions and body language.

"Hi there! You the owner of this place? The guy that makes all the cool wind-up toys?" Came the excited-sounding, yet blunt, voice of the blonde Brute as she walked through my shop with a bounce in her step. With each step, the world seemed to shift as the world seemed to grow just a bit brighter, and the young woman seemed to grow even more beautiful at the same time. It was so slight, it took a second to realize what was going on as the Alexandria Package stood by the counter with her sister trailing behind her. Something not helped by the way the girl moved, or the way she was dressed, drawing the eye to all the right curves and down the front of a low-cut top that almost seemed just a bit too tight, just a bit.

"NEUROLOGICAL INTRUSION DETECTED. ANALYZING..." SECOND input, wireframes of my nerves and brain appearing in an exploded diagram in my mind's eye a second later as I pushed down on the unwelcome attraction, now knowing that it was artificial, to some extent. Still, just to be safe, I went the extra step further and disconnected my mental processes from my emotions, switching over to an emulator of them, as opposed to being effected by Glory Girl's aura. Not to mention, the looks that she clearly knew how to use to her advantage, either unconsciously or otherwise.

And I wasn't all that sure about how likely the former of the two were.

"Vicky!" Came the chastising word from the smaller brunette, seemingly in response to that blunt opening line, and causing the Brute to wince slightly as my face slipped into an expression of amusement.

"I assume so, since I don't think there are many places in the Bay that do wind-ups and clockworks." I remarked with the impression of good humor. "Still, yeah, I'm the owner and founder of the Clockwork Parlor. Name's Nathan, by the way, and how can I help you today, ladies?"

"Well..." Glory Girl started happily, dragging out the word as she leaned forwards slightly, hands interlinked behind her back as she, seemingly, unconsciously pushed her chest forwards. "I heard from a friend of mine that you do custom music boxes, which could play full songs, rather than just a small tune. That right?"

"Yes, I do. But they're not exactly cheap to make, and are mostly done by commission rather than being something that you can just buy off the shelf when you step in, unlike the simpler, smaller ones I make, like those ones." I answered, watching as Glory Girl's expression rose and fell as I explained, while gesturing to a small pile of the small clockwork devices that had been laid out on a table on one side of the room. Seeing the gesture, both girls looked in that direction, with Glory Girl lifting off from the ground to glide over to the small devices. Picking one up, I watched as she slowly wound it up before letting it play, filling the room with a soft melody as the flying Brute held it in her hands before floating a bit further as her sister moved forward.

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE. INTRUSION VECTOR ISOLATED. COUNTERMEASURES DEPLOYED. COUNTER-INTRUSION PROTOCOLS STANDING BY." Were the words that suddenly sprang up within my mind's eye once more, accompanied by the sound of SECOND as lines of code filtered through my vision before abruptly coming to a halt as the choice became self-apparent. Thought processes sped up drastically, bringing my perception of the world around me to a stand-still as I took the time to consider my next course of action. Simply put, on the one hand, this was a golden opportunity to try gathering priceless information on the nature of Shards, Entities and, potentially, how powers actually functioned. However, on the other hand, it was also a potential death sentence, as one wrong move could lead to an alert being tripped and Zion shaking off his pseudo-depression long enough to reduce me to a smear of atoms, if that. Not to mention, there was no guarantee that the Warrior would go back to his depression afterwards, leading to an early Golden Morning, but without Khepri there to bully him to death.

It was a gamble, one with impossibly long odds... But it was one I needed to make.

"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED. BEGINNING COUNTER-INTRUSION." Were the words that sealed the deal, with no way to back out as SECOND sprang into action. Ceph Hive-energy gathered from my own reserves, directed by SECOND, and filtered through several metaphysical lenses as it slide out of my body, invisible to everyone except me as it coiled through the air, travelling along an equally invisible trail back to the source. It didn't take long for the ribbon to find said source, sinking into Victoria Dallon's head and sliding deeper still, the young Parahuman being entirely oblivious to what was happening to her.

"Ok, so, if we wanted something that played a specific song, we'd have to commission it." Amy Dallon spoke up, turning back to me as she kept her sister in the corner of her eye, not even noticing the ribbon of energy that now connected me and her. "Then how would we make a commission for a custom music box?"

"That really depends on what you want to do." I began, keeping a mental eye on SECOND's progress even as I continued to act like nothing was going on, helped by SECOND suppressing any existential dread I might be feeling at the prospect of a fuck-up. "Normally, I just get them submitted via my website, since I've got a template for the required contract and disclaimers setup on it, along with a form for a customer to enter both their contact information and any other details, such as what music they want to be played by the finished music box. They'd have to pay an initial deposit for the work, with the rest being paid after the music box is finished, but I've got a price chart on the website to show how the price is broken down, based on materials, work-hours, size, complexity of the music box itself and a few other things. Postage and shipping is also included in the final price, as required, since a few of my clients have been from other states and didn't wish to make the trip to pick up their orders."

"Makes sense." Victoria commented with a nod, still holding the small, mass-produced music box in her hand as she let it play out, but showing that she was still very aware of the flow of conversation. "Though, what kind of price would we be looking at for a single-song music box?"

"INITIAL COUNTERMEASURES DETECTED. ANALYSING... ANALYSIS COMPLETE. BYPASSING... BYPASS COMPLETE. ENTRY-LEVEL NODE ACCESS GRANTED. LOW-LEVEL THREAT IDENTIFICATION MEASURES SUBVERTED. BEGINNING DATA-MINING OPERATIONS..." Came SECOND's updates as it continued to move deeper into the Shard, using Ceph energy to liberally bypass security measures as I slowly felt the trickle of alien data start to flow back down the link, stolen from a still-unsuspecting Shard. Had I been entirely, or even mostly, Human, I would have probably soaked by clothing with sweat by this point, or died from my heart literally exploding inside my chest from sheer anticipatory dread by this point. Thankfully, that was not the case, as more information flowed back to me, and the waiting Ceph Minds, who eagerly feasted on the new data as it entered their domain, decoding and formatting the information for easier assimilation.

For a moment, I considered having SECOND try accessing Panacea's Shard as well, Shaper, but decided against it. Fragile One, Glory Girl's Shard, was one thing, since it was apparently thrown together from the waste leftover from multiple Shards, but Shaper was an entirely different kettle of fish, being a 'Noble Shard and all. One I'd rather avoid for the time being, since I didn't know how large the potential difference in security standards might be between the two Shards. Admittedly, there could also be no difference, but I didn't feel confident putting that to the test. At least, not right now, anyway.

"Hmmm... For a single song, assuming you're talking about something around three minutes long...? Then I'd say that it could range from anywhere between six hundred dollars, all the way to around nine hundred dollars, if we're talking about something that's just bare bones." I explained, after getting a nod from Panacea in response to my question. Hearing that, I saw Glory Girl wince slightly, and Panacea's eyes tighten around the corners, obviously not expecting that kind of pricing, but recovering rather quickly.

"Alright, so definitely not cheap, got it..." Victoria muttered quietly, probably not meant for me to hear, even if Amy did, judging by the sharp look, but I heard it all the same. The benefits of augmented sense...

"Any chance we could get a copy of the contract and that chart you mentioned? To talk things over with, back at home?" Amy asked, turning back to face me as I nodded, reaching under the counter to pull up a thick, brown envelope.

"Sure, by all means." I remarked easily, handing over the envelope as Amy quickly pulled the flap open and started skimming over a few pages. "This has a copy of the contract, the disclaimers, the FAQ section on my website, and an email address for any questions you might have that aren't covered in that package. Though, if you want, you can just drop in whenever we're open and ask questions as well. Anything else?"

"No, that's everything." Panacea answered with a nod, sliding the papers back into the envelope as she turned to leave. "Thanks, and have a good day."

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Came Vicky's addition as her adopted-sister pulled the door open for the both of them.

"No problem, and I hope to see you two again." I launched back, just as they stepped out the door, with Vicky turning around mid-way to hover backwards, waving to me as she went before the door closed, leaving me in a quickly setting silence. Even so, through the windows, through my expanded senses, and through the link that SECOND had formed with Glory Girl's Shard, I watched as the two girls gathered together for a moment outside my shop. They talked for a few minutes, discussing what to do next as Amy tucked the envelope under her arm, revealing that they had planned to get the music box for their cousin, Crystal, as a birthday gift. It didn't take them long to finish their discussion, deciding to head home and discuss things further with their parents, quickly followed by Panacea being scooped up by her Brute sibling, who then rapidly flew both of them into the air, carrying them out of my awareness in short order.

"ALERT! APPROACHING CONNECTION RANGE LIMIT! CEASETION OF DATA-MINING CONFIRMED. BACKDOOR INSTALLATION WITHIN SUBVERTED NODES COMPLETE. DISENGAGING..." Came seconds before Glory Girl left my range of awareness, swiftly followed by the last scraps of data that SECOND had managed to retrieve, before the energy ribbon shot back to me like an stretched rubber band that was finally released. Relief filled me at seeing those last few data packets, each showing no sign of either discovery or any kind of countermeasures to prevent being accessed by unauthorized users. Not that I was complaining about the lack of such measures or warnings, especially since my gamble had paid off, but a part of me felt like the other shoe had yet to drop.

Here's hoping that when it did drop, it didn't catch me in the blast zone...

XXX

Not for the first time, I found myself praising the fact that I'd hit pay-dirt with the Crysis specialization, since, if nothing else, the Ceph were industrious little fuckers.

And it showed.

In the fourteen hours since that single Hivemind Nexus had come online, the Ceph had done some pretty impressive work with my workshop. Top side, all the various tools and pieces of equipment were now linked together by discrete webs of Ceph nano-material, connecting everything to the Ceph Hivemind, and me, as a result. However, despite how impressive the new connectivity was, it paled in comparison to the amount of work that had been carried out 'down-stairs,' so to speak.

Even knowing just how much work the Ceph had done, it was still amazing just how productive they'd been. The original chamber that had been dug by the Hivemind Nexus had long since been expanded to four times it's starting volume, and now undermined at least three of the other abandoned buildings nearby. Hidden access tunnels had been dug out by Worker-Drones, connecting the chamber to them and allowing the Worker-Drones to freely gather materials while staying out of sight. Within the cavern-like chamber itself, six pillars of hardened Ceph nano-spores held up the weight of the ceiling as Spine-like Assembly Vats worked away, constructing more techno-organic Worker-Drones.

Along the walls, floor and ceiling of the cavern, I could see the forms of various other pieces of equipment as well, half-merged with the nano-material that the Ceph favored as a construction medium. On the ceiling, I saw thorn-coated spines that functioned as refineries, taking in solutions laden with broken down materials and producing atomically pure elements in stable formats. Conduits connected those refineries to colonies of bubble-like formations hanging from vines of nano-material, each semi-transparent and slowly filling with materials for later use. I could see at least twelve particle accelerators that were fused with the structure of the cavern, the Hivemind informing me of the ever-optimizing process they were going through to synthesize increasing amounts of Eezo, along with the dozens of others that were scattered through a series of sub-chambers and tunnels.

However, while useful, that wasn't the reason why I'd dropped into my remodeled workshop as soon as I'd closed my shop up for the day. No, the real reason was the same one that was causing the various Minds to go into the equivalent of a contained feeding frenzy within the Hivemind: The data extracted from Glory Girl's Shard, Fragile One.

"So... What's the conclusion?" I asked aloud, more for myself than anything else, as I transmitted the equivalent message in Ceph-speak as I stopped just in front of the Hivemind Nexus that had started this surge of progress. True to form, it had changed just as much, if not more so, as the rest of the Ceph cavern, now looking like some eldritch tree with branches formed from racks and racks of thought-energy storage prisms as thorn-like spikes grew out from segmented tendrils and roots that linked it with the rest of the structure. Red energy pulse flickered through the entire structure, beating in time with the clouds of red energy that encircled the racks of storage prisms, indicating just how active the Hivemind currently was.

{Inefficient/Young/Potential} Data flowed with the initial collection of word-concepts, giving context and background information as my thought processes sped up to better assimilate the information, SECOND working right alongside me as the data packets were pulled apart and slotted into place within my mind. As a result, it didn't take me long to come to the same conclusion, as I referred back to copies of the original data still stored away by SECOND, which was a lot. However, in comparison to the sheer storage capacity and physical size of a Shard, the amount that had been copied by SECOND was utterly miniscule, and equally as random. Files that contained surface-level Shard communication/interaction protocols were freely mixed in with, what could only be described as, Shard linage data that showed basic information about each previous 'generation' of Shard that had eventually led to the birth of Fragile One.

Unfortunately, SECOND hadn't managed to grab anything that looked like it could allow inter-dimensional travel or communication, but the AI had managed to grab some information regarding how both Glory Girl's 'powers' worked. It was mostly in the form of barebones, foundation-level mathematics, with a few chunks missing, but it definitely hinted at a wider range of possible uses than Glory Girl displayed. Admittedly, as far as I knew, Shards were only supposed gave their hosts a limited fraction of their capabilities, but, given what some of the decoded data was saying, I wasn't all that sure that even Fragile One knew what it could do. Then again, it was a 'young' Shard, from what I could remember, with this being its first 'cycle,' so that might have been expected.

Still, the Typhon Hivemind was not wrong: Inefficiently designed, both physically and in terms of system architecture; Very young by Shard and Entity standards, but with capabilities that had potential applications beyond what they were currently being used for.

"Agreed. Not the most well-designed or intelligent of systems in existence, especially for something, supposedly, capable of self-optimization and self-alteration, but the Shard itself is a potential goldmine of information. Something that I doubt will be any different for any other Shard, either." I noted, getting a Thrum of agreement in turn from the Minds of the Hive, their anticipation readily apparent at the prospect of the potential data, and what it could make possible. "Even so, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Fragile One, as the Shard called itself, was made from recycled parts given to it by three other Shards, so I wouldn't consider it a good standard to use for the potential capabilities of other Shards, let alone the Noble Shards."

{Agreement/Patience/Acceptance} Typhon might not have been entirely happy about it, but the Ceph knew the value of patience on an instinctive level.

"Having said that, feel free to infiltrate and data-mine any Parahuman's Shard that comes into range, so long as your careful, and keep in mind that they'll probably be tougher nuts to crack than Fragile One." I stated easily, knowing that the range of the Hivemind influence didn't just extend around me, but also out from the Nexus that stood before me. So, really, it was less a matter of 'if' and more a matter of 'when' that a Parahuman would come into range and Typhon could hack into a Shard through them directly, as opposed to through SECOND and me by proxy. Plus, this also had the advantage of, hopefully, preventing the Hivemind from going in heavy, and potentially grabbing some unwanted attention before I had reached a point where I could fight off, or escape, said unwanted attention.

Many birds, one stone and all that.

{Agreement/Anticipation} {Proposal} Two messages, fired off through the same pulse of through-energy came through the link in rapid succession. The first bringing Typhon's eager agreement, while the second carried something of a shift in conversation with it, held within a densely packed cloud of linked concepts and thoughts that unpacked within my own mind. Data and context reformatted themselves as SECOND scanned through everything as it clicked into place within my mind, providing growing summaries and increasingly complete reports as each new piece was integrated. Even with virtually perfect, and conscious, control of my body language, I still felt my eyebrow shift upwards on my face as the packet unfolded into a long list of potential projects, each related to the scraps of data pulled from the unaware Fragile One and the observed abilities of Glory Girl herself.

And even with just that information, the Ceph Minds had really gone wild with the possibilities, starting with the obvious ones before moving into ever-more off-the-wall ideas.

Force field-cloaks for every Ceph unit or structure, with optional strength enhancement and flight capabilities; Terror-fields designed to deter intruders from entering, or going near, certain areas by triggering fight-or-flight responses; Force field-based structural reinforcements, acting as a form of structural integrity field; Apathy-based stealth fields, making people less inclined to care about potential infiltrators, even if they might be standing right in front of them; Force field-based telekinesis using various sizes of force field 'plates,' all the way down to manipulating matter at the sub-atomic level. And those was just the tip of the iceberg, with dozens more proposals being visible, all within the realm of possibility, based on theorized information, captured data, and observed capabilities.

Even so, even with such a potential bounty of capabilities and boons at the end of the road, it would be a long road to walk. What information we had wasn't concrete, by any measure, only outlining the most basic functions of the two manifested powers of Glory Girl, but doing little to explain how to actually take the equations and mathematics, and translate it into a physical device that worked. Maybe, that was present in the mathematics that were missing? Maybe, it was something that required an entirely separate mathematical proof? Maybe, it was something that you could only really stumble onto, and document afterwards? Maybe, Fragile One didn't even have all the data itself? We really didn't have any way to know until we had evidence proving it, one way or another, or had developed it independently of the remaining data that the Fragile One Shard held.

And, given the sheer amount of data that Typhon had estimated a single Shard might possess, I had my doubts we'd be getting that information any time soon. It was a conclusion that Typhon had shared with its initial reports on the matter, and had already started researching what little data we had available, using the only tool we had that could possibly account for the multi-dimensional nature of the equations and implementations: Arcanotech.

Turning away from the evolved Hivemind nexus, I saw a cluster of N-Dimensional Computer Cores all growing out from the wall of the expanded cavern, and each the focus of dozens of Ceph Minds. Constructed from a fusion of Ceph, CthulhuTech and Mass Effect technologies, each of the Cores looked like a techno-organic, dull silver lotus flower the size of a man's torso. Even just looking at them, I could see that something wasn't quite right with them, their petals translucent and seeming to fade in and out of existence as I watched. Had I been completely Human, I was reasonably sure that I'd have gone quite insane just by looking at those petals, but it hardly seemed to be a problem now as SECOND merely noted a 'slight mental degradation, compensating' after a few moments, and that had been the end of that. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or mildly terrified at the prospect, while also knowing that the latter of the two just wasn't possible for me anymore, as anything beyond a thought-exercise, as it once more drove home just how much I'd altered myself on a fundamental level.

Then again, given that I was basically trapped on Earth Bet until I could get my hands on some form of dimensional travel mechanism, and the threat the Entities posed, did I really have much of a choice to begin with?

XXX

Sitting on the edge of an abandoned building's roof, I looked out at the Boat Graveyard as the sun slowly crawled up from over the horizon, illuminating the word and chasing away the shadows of night. In my head, I could feel a mental timer ticking away, matching perfectly with the very real timer that I'd had SECOND generate on a whim. From my perspective, it had barely been a week, since I'd spent nearly half of it either unconscious, or unable to do much of anything, but it had been productive all the same. Unlocking the technologies of the Ceph and CELL this early into my new existence had been game-changing, but keeping it was no longer necessary. All the data it could offer, all the knowledge it had downloaded into my brain, I'd copied and stored away inside my ever-expanding library of knowledge, safe, in case the worst ever happened and I needed to start over from scratch.

Now, with the minimum time limit for my Crysis specialty soon coming to an end, it was nearly time to spin the wheel once more and pray to whatever, benign, higher being was listening for something good.

Admittedly, I'd considered keeping my current specialty for a while longer, maybe even keeping it for the maximum duration that I could get, but I'd quickly cast aside that option. Right now, grabbing as many specialties in as short an amount of time as possible was my priority, with the hope being that I'd be able to grab some kind of dimensional travel technology along the way. Without the capability to travel between dimensions, I was basically fucked, regardless of whatever other tech I might pick up along the way. Assuming I got it early enough, I could potentially escape to another dimension, to another planet, and avoid the approaching clusterfuck of Golden Morning, or whatever replaced it, entirely. Otherwise, I'd need it if I ever hoped to be able to fight back against the Shards and Entities, who both only acted through Hosts, projections and puppets, while hiding their 'True' selves in dimensions that they'd 'locked' away, somehow.

It wasn't a situation I really liked, with a projected timeframe for any possible escape attempt growing shorter and shorter by the day, as a consequence of just how industrious the Ceph were. At a best guess, I had about nine weeks before trying to move my entire infrastructure became non-viable, with a worst case being as little as five weeks. There were a number of reasons for this, but the main ones came down to visibility, the cost of transition, the estimated amount of time to make the transition to another dimension, and the level of reaction it would bring down on my head from the Protectorate, PRT, Cauldron and even the Endbringers and Zion himself.

Not to mention, after putting so much effort into building myself up from basically nothing, I was loathed to throw it all away and start over again. Maybe, it was pride; Maybe, it was spite; And maybe, it was sheer bloody stubbornness that made me unwilling to give up on it all, despite how much easier it would be to make an escape attempt with less need to take my entire infrastructure setup with me, despite how unlikely that was. I'd already ran the numbers, calculated the odds and come to the simple conclusion that it was unlikely that I was going to be that lucky, even with the good luck I'd been having thus far. Something that did not help the feeling I'd been getting, that, despite everything I'd done thus far, the other shoe was just waiting to drop.

"... Still, I suppose there's nothing else for it..." I muttered aloud, my eyes fixed on the distant horizon as I allowed myself the illusion of being lost in thought as a slight smile played across my lips. In all honesty, I knew what was going to happen, and what my own stubborn pride was going to drive me into, leaving me with one option above all others: To survive, and thrive, in the coming war, and only running if I had no other option.

Then again, I really shouldn't have expected much else.

After all, I was only Human.

XXX

With the Ceph up and running, subtly salvaging what they could from within the Boat Graveyard, my trips to the various flea markets around the city became more focused on what they were used to obtain. It became less about grabbing anything that could be used to restock my stockpiles, and more about grabbing harder-to-come-by materials, like Rare Earth Metals and certain types of crystals. Becoming a Posthuman had only helped, in this regard, since in-built sensors helped to identify items with higher amounts of the needed materials, ranging from unearthed geodes and pieces of jewelry, to trace amounts in electronics and crystal-healing rigs. Not only that, but it made it so much easier to slip into new personas after swapping full bags with empty ones, the former being collected by Ceph Worker-Drones as I slipped into a new persona as easily as most would have slipping into a new set of clothes.

However, even with a more focused shopping list of things I needed to buy from the flea markets, I still bought a few other odds and ends, if only to satisfy my own paranoia as I swapped between one persona and the next. Some of the stuff I bought was just random junk, only good to be recycled into base elements. Other items, however, were actually things I needed for a number of reasons, not the least of which being my own desire to start investigating the Magic, Para-Psychic powers and Arcanotech I'd already gained access to from CthulhuTech.

Previously, I'd been hesitant to even consider touching either subject, but finding out that Ceph really couldn't go insane, and that I couldn't, thanks to SECOND, opened up more than a few possibilities to me, further down the road. Admittedly, most of CthulhuTech's Magic was ritual-based, so I couldn't really go around throwing fireballs, but Para-Psychic powers covered for that rather nicely. Instead, CthulhuTech's Magic let me craft some rather impressive things, such as Wards, an impressive array of magical items, and no small number of effects that can range from restorative, to destructive. For me, my primary interest was in those Wards and certain items that could be made, using a number of ingredients, with some being more common than others.

Which, in all honesty, made sense, since it wasn't like I could buy the ashes of a criminal, or the finger bones of a gambler, from a supermarket, let alone some of the other ingredients needed for other spells. Not that every spell needed things like that, but those were good examples of some of the more 'exotic' components needed to get some of the items that could be offered by CthulhuTech's particular brand of Magic. Then again, one never really knew what they might find at some of these flea markets, so I might get lucky. Or I might not, either way, finding a work-around for the lack of those kinds of ingredients was something I was already considering.

Even if the morality, and ethics, of some of the actions in question were, well, questionable.

Mentally shaking my head at that particular train of thought, I returned the majority of my focus to the world around me, smiling as I exchanged money for a bag filled with various small tubs of incense and herbs. Offering a nod and a 'thank you,' I quickly left the stall behind as I checked off another potential item on my mental shopping list, full of things that might be required for further exploration of the Eldritch Magics I was about to unleash. Already, a map of the flea markets appeared in my mind's eye, highlighting stalls that had what I might need after in-built sensors had swept over the area. A road map formed in my mind, overlapping with my vision as I looked at the two closest stalls in question from the corner of my eye.

The first one was immediately in view, covered with various candles, both scented and non-scented types, along with various types of displays and holders for the wax light fixtures. The second was a bit further away, but in-built magnification let me see the collection of paint cans and equipment that cluttered the stall, making it nearly impossible to see the table surface below them. Slipping through the crowd, I left my body on autopilot as I checked over how much I was carrying, and how much more I could carry, before things started attracting attention. A quick check of my sensors, and some equally quick maths, showed I was still good, but that I'd probably have to switch bags, and personas, soon.

However, half way to the first stall, I both saw, and felt, the timers finally reach zero.

Immediately, I felt the shift as my awareness expanded into a moment that seemed to stretch into infinity. My decision had already been made, something that was recognized as I felt the instinctive grasp of the Crysis technologies slip through my fingers, leaving behind only the copies I'd made. I 'looked up,' for lack of a better term, and saw the massive, cosmic wheel start to spin as the clicking of 'pegs' went whistling by, not even slowing down at first. Soon, delays started to appear between the click of one 'peg' and the next, growing longer as the moment continued to stretch further and further. Momentum was leeched away, siphoned from the wheel as it came to a grinding half, completing the selection process as I felt the new specialty slot into place within my mind. With the new specialty slotted into place, my awareness shrunk back down until only I remained, even as my thoughts sped up once more, giving me more time to analyse my new specialty.

Soon enough, words and phrases started appearing that I recognised, causing a sense of anticipation to build as I read each one, and the attached information, downloading and copying it into my ever-growing database as I went. Psion, Pushion, Eidos, Magic Calculation Area, Casting Assistant Device, Systematic Magic, Outer-Systematic Magic, Non-Systematic Magic and a dozen other terms were all familiar to me in multiple ways, all given context beyond what I was previously aware of. Background mechanics came into focus, terminology and methodologies that had previously been left blank were filled in as I assimilated more and more information. Quickly, it all came together, and I found myself looking at the sum-total of Magic used in the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei series, where a single person was capable of casting magics that could devastate entire landmasses, or trigger matter-to-energy conversion events at will.

Knowing all that, semi-conscious drivers pulled at facial muscles, causing a small smile to play across my features as I approached my next destination.

Unfortunately, the improvement to my good mood didn't last, neither did my good mood, in fact, as an alarm flickered into existence at the back of my mind. SECOND immediately dragged it to the forefront as I shifted around, multi-tasking as shifted around to focus most of my attention on the new information being presented to me. Assimilating the generated report, I was very glad for the control I had over my body, knowing that I would have made a strange sight otherwise, especially given what I wanted to say. Immediately, plans changed and I shifted course. Shopping could be done another day, and it wasn't like I couldn't just buy what I needed elsewhere, if only for a higher price. This new information took priority, and raised several questions.

Questions I wanted answered.

For instance, I wanted to know why two sixteen-to-twenty year old girls had just broken into my apartment...? Through the window...? Through a window that was on the third floor of an apartment complex...?

XXX

AN: Once more, sorry about the long wait, but I hope this makes up for things. Finger's crossed that I can get things under control, but I make no promises. Still, hope you all liked it and, as always, feel free to give suggestions, feedback and comments as the story progresses.

Cheers!

Edit: By the way, here's the write-up for this speciality. I might add to it later, but this is the just of it. Enjoy!

Magic: The use of Psions and Pushions to modify and interact with the Eidos of objects, generating effects within observable reality. Currently split into multiple categories, with the two main categories being Mordern Magic and Ancient Magic.

Casting Assistant Devices: Devices designed to take Psions produced by the user and/or magic sequence and allow the user to rewrite phenomena: Magic.

Strategic-Class Magic: Magic designed with the intent of functioning as a single-person Weapon of Mass Destruction, with a minimum capability of destroying a city with a population of, or greater than, fifty thousand people, or an entire fleet, with a single activation. An example of this would be Material Burst, a Mordern Magic Spell that is designed to free all energy present within a targeted piece of matter. It has no known upper limit.

Chapter 46 - 4